On the recordJune 12, 2013
In regard to this whole issue about the Senate as an institution and where I said if this nuclear option holds it is going to destroy the Senate, I think it is very appropriate for us to remember the Senate is the only institution in our political branch of government where minority views are protected. In the House of Representatives, whether it is a Republican majority or a Democratic majority, as long as they stick together, they can do anything they want to and they can ignore the minority. But in the Senate, where it takes a supermajority of 60 to get something done, whether there is a Republican or Democratic minority, that minority is protected. Today, where we have 54 Democrats and 46 Republicans, nothing is going to get done unless it is done in a bipartisan consensus way, and that is why it is so very important we do not destroy that aspect of the uniqueness of the Senate. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
